Out Stack

Out Stack

Location
Out Stack Out Stack shown within Scotland
OS grid reference	HP612202
Physical geography
Island group	Shetland
Highest elevation	27 m (89 ft)
Political geography
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Country	Scotland
Council area	Shetland Islands
Demographics
Population	0

Out Stack

Out Stack or Ootsta in Shetland, Scotland, is the northernmost point of the British Isles, lying immediately 600 m north of Muckle Flugga and 1.8 miles (2.9 km) north of the island of Unst. It is one of the North Isles of the Shetland Islands and lies within the Hermaness National Nature Reserve.

Out Stack is little more than a rocky outcrop, and is uninhabited. It has been described as "the full stop at the end of Britain". Travellers do not encounter any further land masses between Out Stack and the North Pole if heading directly north.

It is said that Lady Jane Franklin, the wife of the Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin landed on the Out Stack, after Dr John Rae's reports of the fate of the Franklin expedition had reached Stromness, Orkney, in 1853/54 where she lived in those days. Although she noted that she wanted to get as close as possible to her missing husband it must be doubted whether or not she landed on Out Stack. The fact that there was no safe landing was one reason—amongst others—why Thomas and David Stevenson decided later in the 1850s to build the lighthouse on Muckle Flugga and not on Out Stack.

The Hermaness National Nature Reserve covers the Muckle Flugga rocks and Out Stack, as well as the seabird cliffs and moorland of Hermaness.

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  Looking South-West from Out Stack towards Muckle Flugga

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  Out Stack seen from Muckle Flugga

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  Out Stack and Muckle Flugga

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  Out Stack and Muckle Flugga